The department announced an agreement with Santa Rosa, Calif., to improve access to all aspects of civic life for persons with disabilities.

The forfeiture is the largest ever entered against an entity for IEEPA violations.

Leonard Douglas “Doug” LaDuron also was ordered to pay $238,607 in restitution.

"The U.S. financial system is built on trust and transparency. Our banks must know what payments they are processing and for whom. Credit Suisse’s decades-long scheme to flout the rules that govern our financial institutions robbed our system of the legitimacy that is fundamental to it success."

Annita Devi Gerald, aka Annita Rampersad, 52, was charged in a nine-count indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas.

Shamai Kedem Leibowitz, aka Samuel Shamai Leibowitz, 39, of Silver Spring, Md., pleaded guilty in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., to a one-count information charging him with knowingly and willfully disclosing to an unauthorized person five FBI documents classified at the "secret" level that contained classified information concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States.

The United States and the state of New York have entered into settlement agreements with three home health agencies to resolve allegations that they submitted false claims to the New York Medicaid and Medicare programs.

Mark Edwin Cairnes, 51, was sentenced today to 292 months in prison and lifetime supervised release following his prison term for advertising and possessing child pornography.

Bryan Lee Burrows admitted that he conspired with others to solicit kickbacks from private security vendors in return for favorable treatment for those potential bidders in connection with the award of a subcontract.

Jackson, Mich., resident Terrence Hicks and Detroit residents Muhammed Al Mahdi and John Saunders pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan this week for their roles in a $4.2 million Medicare fraud scheme.

William A. “Bill” White, the self-proclaimed commander of the neo-Nazi group the American National Socialist Workers Party, was convicted by a federal jury for threatening three individuals and for attempting to intimidate litigants in a federal housing discrimination lawsuit.

These transfers were carried out under individual arrangements between the United States and relevant foreign authorities to ensure the transfers took place under appropriate security measures.

Former New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe in Albany, N.Y. to 27 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for attempted extortion and bribery, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge John F. Pikus of the FBI’s Albany office announced.

“This important settlement resolves lengthy litigation on very favorable terms,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Donald Mathias of Davie, Fla., pleaded guilty today to engaging in sex tourism in the Philippines.

Elias Perocier Morales received a sentence of 10 years in prison and Eliezer Rivera Gonzalez received a sentence of six and a half years in prison.

This is the fourth Indiana man in two months to be sentenced to prison time for burning a cross.

A settlement estimated worth more than $30 million will ensure that cleanup of the Sutton Brook Disposal Area Superfund Site in Tewksbury, Mass., will move forward, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection announced today.

“The resolution of this matter yielded a substantial recovery for taxpayers, and it underscores our commitment to ensure that services reimbursable by federal health care programs are based on the best interests of patients rather than the personal financial interests of referring physicians,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Department’s Civil Division.

Visiting Physicians Association, which is based in Farmington Hills, Mich., will pay the United States and the state of Michigan $9.5 million to settle allegations that the association violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to Medicare, TRICARE and the Michigan Medicaid program.

“Gary is a great asset to the Department, and I am pleased he has agreed to take on this responsibility,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Chevron Corporation, Texaco, Unocal Incorporated and their affiliates (the Chevron companies) have agreed to pay the United States $45,569,584.74, to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases.

The Department filed a brief as a friend of the court in Marlo M., et al. v. Cansler, et al., a community integration case in federal court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Aristotle R. Matsa, an attorney in Columbus, Ohio, was charged with tax offenses, obstruction of justice and additional charges in a 20-count indictment unsealed today.

Cristina Andres Perfecto of Nashville, Tenn., was sentenced late yesterday in federal court in Memphis to 190 months in prison for sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, sex trafficking of a juvenile and conspiracy.

A 23-year-old Nigerian man was charged in a federal criminal complaint today with attempting to destroy a Northwest Airlines aircraft on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day, and with placing a destructive device on the aircraft.

“As this case demonstrates, we are committed to vigorously pursuing those who defraud Medicare.”

“The Department of Justice will be vigilant in pursuing cases against medical device companies that break the law and defraud taxpayers,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

Albert Gonzalez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to the payment card networks operated by, among others, Heartland Payment Systems, 7-Eleven and Hannaford Brothers Co. Inc.

UTStarcom Inc. (UTSI) has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice, agreeing to pay a $1.5 million fine for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by providing travel and other things of value to foreign officials, specifically employees at state-owned telecommunications firms in the People’s Republic of China.

Wheaton Community Hospital, the City of Wheaton, Minn. and Dr. Stanley Gallagher (collectively WCH) have agreed to pay $846,461 to settle allegations that their hospital admission practices violated the False Claims Act.

A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction barring Penny Lea Jones of Idaho Falls, Idaho, from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

"Anyone we find responsible for this alleged attack will be brought to justice using every tool -- military or judicial -- available to our government.”

Johnny Pires, 24, was sentenced today to five years in prison and five years of supervised release following his prison term for attempting to receive and possessing child pornography. Pires was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

The findings reported in the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) report, Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-2009, bring into focus the dire circumstances that too many youth in juvenile correctional facilities have to endure.

The United States this week filed five civil injunction lawsuits in Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago against several individuals and their tax preparation services.

A former Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) official was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ga., to three years in prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy involving a multi-million dollar telecommunications contract, and for not reporting the bribes he accepted on his income tax returns.

Justin Cannon, 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Christopher Drotleff, 29, of Virginia Beach, Va., have been charged with crimes including second-degree murder, attempted murder and firearms offenses while working as contractors for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan. Cannon and Drotleff were charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA).

The Department filed a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey and the New Jersey Civil Service Commission alleging a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African-Americans and Hispanics, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York have entered into an agreement with New York City to correct conditions of confinement at the Kings County Hospital Center’s (KCHC) psychiatric emergency room and psychiatric in-patient units located in Brooklyn, N.Y.

A federal grand jury in Las Vegas today returned indictments against 10 Nevada-certified emissions testers for falsifying vehicle emissions test reports.

Michael Sayklay, the former vice president of Economy Cash & Carry Inc., a Texas-based grocery wholesaler, pleaded guilty today in federal court in El Paso, Texas, to a criminal violation of the Plant Protection Act.

"We cannot ignore the fact that protecting our economy is an essential component of our larger security goals," said Attorney General Holder.

A Florida man has been sentenced to 90 months in prison for making e-mail and telephone threats, including threats intended to cause a candidate for statewide office in Florida to drop out of an election.

“This year cannot just be an anniversary – it must be a call to action.  The Department is marking this year with our renewed dedication and a recommitment to ending violence against women.”

The new directive is part of a larger Justice Department initiative to create better communication and coordination to fight crime and promote justice in Indian Country.

U.S. Army Major Charles E. Sublett, 46, of Huntsville, Ala., was arrested today on charges of bulk cash smuggling and making false statements to a federal agency.

The department filed a brief as a friend of the court in Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center Inc. v. Richmond Township and Richmond Township Planning Commission, a civil rights case regarding the expansion of an addictive disorders treatment facility in Macomb County, Mich.

"We want to use this year not merely to commemorate an anniversary, but to recommit ourselves to ending violence against women. Our government and this Department have a responsibility to speak out and act on issues of violence against women."

Howard William Ledford of Hayesville, N.C., was sentenced today in federal court in the Western District of North Carolina to serve one year in prison for illegally selling and transporting wild American ginseng into Georgia.